THE passenger B777, with its market-changing belly capacity, has had a significant impact on the air cargo industry – but there will always be a need for professional widebodied freighter operators who do their job well, says Russia’s AirBridgeCargo (ABC).
Denis Ilin, executive president, believes that in the future more legacy airlines will focus mainly on their core passenger business, rather than “trying to provide everything, everywhere”.
The market is changing, but there will definitely be a stable demand for pure freighters, he says.
“There is always specialist cargo shipments and there are always customers who will require the ability of all-cargo aircraft,” he asserts.
“The numbers and the volumes may probably not be as huge as they were in the past, but freighter operations are here to stay.
“People who can do it best will still be providing these [freighter] services and those operating belly or mixed services will just focus on what they do best,” he adds.
Read Thelma Etim's full interview in the March 2014 edition of Freighters World
